by Jean Bart (1874-1933)
excerpt THE LIGHTHOUSES OF THE DANUBE MOUTHS SULINA The town's large lighthouse stands on the right bank of the Danube, behind the European Danube Commission Palace, at a latitude of 45 degrees, 9 minutes and 37 seconds. It is in the form of a circular tower, with a lantern and green cupola. Fixed white light. Height of the focal plane 70 feet. It sends a beam of light fifteen miles out to sea. According to the power of its lens and the manner of its construction, the Sulina lighthouse is rated as class two. The lighthouse at the extremity of the North Dyke is formed of a white cylindrical tower with a red cupola and has a fixed red light. The height of the focus is 45 feet. It can be seen eight miles out to sea and is rated as class three. The lighthouse at the extremity of the south dyke is housed in a hexagonal metal turret of white-painted girders, with a green lantern and cupola, while the light operates a Lith system of occultation, with a green light showing for one and a half seconds, followed by an occultation of the same duration. The height of the focal plane is 33 feet, and the lighthouse is class six. Another, fixed green lighthouse is situated on a parallel dyke south of the channel, serving as a point of alignment in conjunction with the lighthouse in the town for the channel between the dykes. A flashing lighthouse, burning acetylene, it illumines 14 degrees, blinking every second, and is positioned on a wooden column, fixed to the right bank of the river near the South Dyke. A second flashing lighthouse, illuminating 14 degrees, blinking every two seconds, is also positioned on the right shore, atop a taller wooden column and further from the South Dyke. These two lighthouses serve as points of alignment for the navigable channel. Apart from the lighthouses on dry land, there is a system of buoys to signal the coast and the entry channel, in order to avoid the sandbank at the mouth of the Sulina channel. A Courtney system luminous sonic buoy, with a white light every three seconds, is positioned two miles from the lighthouse at the head of the North Dyke, in order to signal the nearby coast and indicate the landing place at Sulina. A luminous buoy with a bell, with a green light every three seconds, signals the sandbank that extends out to sea at the river mouth. Another two black buoys are positioned south of the bell buoy. SONIC SIGNALS DURING MIST Every ten minutes, a canon is fired from the sand dunes near the South Dyke. At the same time, a bell is tolled at intervals of not more than a minute, from the lighthouse at the head of the dyke with the fixed red light, both in the day and at night. ST GEORGE St George has a lighthouse on the lower Olinka Island, at a latitude of 44 degrees, 51 minutes and 5 seconds, longitude 29 degrees, 36 minutes and 52 seconds. The light is white and flashes every five seconds, with a total eclipse. The height of the focal place is 65 English feet and is visible fourteen miles out at sea. Sonic signals: a canon shot every five minutes, from the balcony of the lighthouse, during mist.
by Jean Bart (1874-1933)
by Jean Bart (1874-1933)